As I began my drive from Ketchum and Sun Valley Idaho, not only the scale but also the vastness of our country began to sink in. I felt a little like Lewis and Clark as they traveled west. The tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River is only 6,684 feet tall. The tallest peak in the Bitterroots – Lewis and Clark’s first real confrontation with the Rocky Mountains — is 12,666 feet tall. And the massive Rocky Mountains went on and on as Lewis and Clark struggled toward the West Coast and the Pacific Ocean.

But the expedition remained healthy because they were getting all their essential nutrients from fresh meat. This was proven conclusively and empirically by Stefansson, a PhD anthropologist when he went and lived for months with the Inuit – the Eskimos who live above the Arctic Circle and have for literally thousands of years. Stefansson was astounded how robustly healthy the Eskimos were. There are zero carbs above the Arctic Circle. Zero fruits and vegetables. Yet the Eskimos did not have scurvy.

Scurvy was the plague of the grand age of exploration when men began to go on long sea voyages lasting months beginning with Columbus. Scurvy would kill 50% to 75% of the crew of each voyage. The Eskimos not only did not have scurvy – zero – they did not have any degenerative disease. No heart disease, no cancer, no dementia. Zero. Seal is in high healthy fat and moderate in high quality animal protein.

Dr Stefansson was so astounded after living with the Eskimos for months that when he got back to Columbia University in New York City where he taught, he raved about the astonishing health of the Eskimos. No one believed him.

So, he had the doctors at Columbia University Medical School lock he and one of the Arctic expedition members who had accompanied him and also lived with the Eskimos and ate the Eskimo diet, to be locked up in Bellevue hospital for 12 months. They were only allowed to be fed fresh meat. All the doctors at the medical school thought they would be dead in less than 3 months.

A year later they emerged – not only with no scurvy – but radiantly healthy. Amundsen, the first man to the South Pole, proved the same thing. No one in his expedition crew got scurvy. Zero. No fresh fruit or vegetables.Zero. Only fresh meat like seal, penguin and dog. Amundsen had learned his lessons well living and working with the Eskimos for years. Amundsen respected the Eskimos and learned the value of skiing, sled dogs and fresh meat. He got to the South Pole first and everyone not only got back, but were robustly healthy. Scott, his British competitor, had contempt for the “savages” and their ways. Scott got the South Pole second a month after Amundsen and Scott and his entire crew all died on the way back to their ship. For thousands of years up to today, the Reindeer People in Siberia eat nothing but reindeer – the organs and especially the fat. They give the lean meat to the dogs.

You would think people would learn from people who had been robustly healthy for literally thousands of years – zero obesity, zero diabetes, zero dementia. But alas, all these things are rampant in our country and getting worse.

As I drove east, I entered Grand Teton National Park. I was already spoiled from the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite National Park from back packing for years in California, but the Grand Tetons are a truly magnificent part of the Rocky Mountains. As I drove north up through Grand Teton National Park, I felt blessed to be able to see, enjoy and appreciate these spectacular mountains.

I was just getting started on my 46 state odyssey but I already had a greater and growing appreciation for the vastness, scale and beauty of our country.

It also mystified me why, despite dozens of examples of cultures who for thousands of years had thrived on whole fresh food, and fresh meat and healthy fats, why the vast majority of Americans who are not only fat but obese and continued to stuff themselves with hyper-processed junk which not only no nutritional value, but are literally toxic. Fatty livers which used to be found only in alcoholics, are now found in young people from ingesting so much high fructose corn syrup in soft drinks.  And type 2 diabetes is now rampant from massive consumption of hyper-processed grains like breads, taco shells and pasta.

Supplements are not cures. High quality supplements help build your body, your brain and your immune system to prevent degenerative disease and communicable disease. Example: the 3 main reasons Americans died of COVID-19 was obesity, diabetes and low blood levels of vitamin D. Most Americans’ blood levels of vitamin D are around 20. My blood level of vitamin D is 116. I always keep my blood level of vitamin D over 100. There is no downside.

Like vitamin C. Dr Linus Pauling, winner of 2 unshared Nobel Prizes, discovered that human beings need at least 3,000 mg of vitamin C each day. I get 6,000 to 8,000 mg of vitamin C every single day. The key, as Dr. Stephen Covey (a coaching client of mine) spelled out in his great book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (already sold over 40 million copies) First, be proactive. Crisis managers wait until they get sick and then scramble to try and get better. Highly effective people eat lots of healthy fat and high quality animal protein and take their supplements daily. The idea: don’t get sick in the first place. Why be sick and feel Lousy a single day? Why waste a single day let alone weeks of your life being sick and feeling lousy?

As I drove north through Grand Teton National Park toward Yellowstone National Park, I felt a growing and deepening sense of gratitude for being born and living in the greatest country on earth.

Remember: Drink your JDD shake every morning. Take your supplements every day. Enjoy and give thanks for this country. Every day is a gift.

As always, I wish you and your family the very best of health.
Joe